


The Papers of Europa

by phoenixyfriend



Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, Multimedia, Other tags to be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-08-25 20:47:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16668040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixyfriend/pseuds/phoenixyfriend
Summary: A collection of songs, poems, academic papers, scribbled notes, letters, and various other accounts of the daily lives of Europa's residents.





	1. The Clockwork Princess

**Author's Note:**

> This is being written on a whim. Don't expect too much from it.

_Have you heard the story of,_  
_The clockwork princess here?_  
_She's glad to speak with you about,_  
_So many things, my dear!_

 _She’s fond of hearing people scream,_  
_As she cuts their entrails out._  
_She’s got a love of seeing dreams,_  
_As they fade and peter out._

 _She’s nearly dead but clings to life,_  
_The solitary queen!_  
_She’s got a joie de vivre to her,_  
_So sharp and quick and mean!_

 _Pretty dresses and smooth metal frames,_  
_You’d think she was a Muse!_  
_Van Rijn’s own, down to the bone,_  
_Or rather to the fuse._

 _Have you heard the story of,_  
_The clockwork princess here?_  
_Anevka’s got an iron fist,_  
_And so we live in fear._

* * *

This is a song found in Sturmhalten taverns frequented by students and young workers, based on rumors by the Castle Staff. The song is rarely sung by children or anyone over the age of thirty, as they are either unaware of the song, or too scared of the Princess Anevka to dare say it where someone may hear and report it to her. This copy of the lyrics was based on a version related to Madam Helena Mitrev, author of _A History of Europa’s Rulers: Tavern Songs and Other Poetry_ , following the death of Princess Anevka, and her doppelganger’s entrapment in the time-stopped Mechanicsburg.


	2. Herr Cosmin Ardelea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My dear sister...

My dear sister,

I hope this letter finds you in good health. I do wish to hear more about Darius and Elisabeta. Have they begun to read yet? I find that five years of age is the common choice in towns, though the larger cities have their children start younger still. Elisabeta will also be able to marry well, if she goes to school, especially if you can get her to a secretarial school, or a university! The richer merchants and such prefer wives that can help with the company in ways that do not involve physical labor; running the figures and keeping accounts is very common in the caravans, in addition to common chores like cooking, and caring for the children. If she marries well in a town, at that, she may even be able to marry into lower nobility, should she prove to be particularly clever. Not a spark, of course, but a sharp mind is a way to move upwards, in the towns. She will also be able to marry later if she manages to go to a university; it’ll make her an attractive prospect even as she ages a little, and you’ve said many a time that you wished you’d had the option of waiting a few years instead of doing as father suggested. If your husband objects, or father, then I would be happy to give her lodging later on. Passholdt is so much larger than home, Iuliana! They are so much more ready for their daughters to learn! You learned to read and write, yes, but Elisabeta could have so many more options here! So many opportunities!

I am afraid, however, that my own news is not nearly so sweet as yours. I will confess that my earlier rambling was an attempt to put off the inevitable.

Things have been strange here recently. I know that peculiar noises from the lab of a Spark are supposedly normal, but Professor Snarlantz has had me worried. It is easy for a person to go missing in a large town and not be noticed, but rumors are starting to make their rounds. There has been screaming, we think, though it is so strange and monstrous that we are not sure it is human. We think he may be experimenting on some of the forest creatures, as none of the livestock has gone missing, but the many missing persons cases have of course found their way into the rumors. We are unsure of whether they are connected, but Madame Sancoeur, from down the street, left to join her family in Paris last week. She is awaiting news from a neighbor before she chooses to return. I am rather convinced she may stay away, as the situation may not improve unless the Baron intervenes.

We… are rather convinced that he may need to. Iuliana, Herr Vasilescu left last week to pass word to the Baron’s people. He should have returned two days ago. He is still gone. We worry for him.

My apologies for such rough news. I hope that we may see each other again soon, and that Passholdt will once more be the safe and prosperous town of opportunity that I came for.

Sincerely,

Your brother Cosmin

* * *

 

_This letter was one of the last correspondences to exit Passholdt prior to its destruction. Herr Cosmin Ardelea was never found, and is assumed to have been transformed, as with the rest of the town. The letter is also one of very few hints that remain of what occurred in Passholdt. The Baron’s questors found evidence of tampering, and suspect that several letters had been destroyed before leaving the town, and the few that contain any information are similarly vague. Herr Ardelea’s letter is notable for the inclusion of Herr Vasilescu’s attempt and failure to reach the Baron, something that was not known until his sister approached the Baron’s forces several months ago to learn of Passholdt’s fate. The disappearance suggested that there was some form of deeper conspiracy than the questors had suspected, but no answer has yet been found. The investigation is ongoing._


	3. The Black Mist Raiders

**Petrus Teufel, Leader of the Black Mist Raiders, Defeated by Baron!**

For the past seven years, Petrus Teufel and his army of devoted minions have raged across Europa. For the past three, Baron Wulfenbach, savior of the continent, has been fighting him. Last night, the war finally ended, and with it, we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Until last week, nobody had heard of East Zagreb. This is, of course, because until last week, East Zagreb had not _existed_. The town sprung up out of thin air and was used as a trap for Teufel’s forces, and while the battle has landed squarely in the Baron’s favor, the new town is uninhabitable. We at the Pax Transylvania Times feel that this is rather unfortunate, as it would have made _quite_ the tourist hotspot.

(Mechanicsburg, we hear, has already begun to petition for long-distance ownership of the area. The Baron has as of yet not addressed this publicly.)

The casualty reports both sides are unavailable, but Wulfenbach representatives have stated that well over a hundred intelligence officers, and many times more soldiers, died against the Black Mist Raiders over the course of the last three years. Following this battle, the Empire’s army will begin to rebuild; with the Raiders out of the way, it is likely that other existing strongholds and armies will fold without a fight, as the war against Teufel has proven the Baron’s military strength. Experts are projecting lower casualties per standard conflict in the coming years, for both the Baron and for whomever he chooses to include in the Empire.

The addition of the Jäger armies to his forces was controversial, but this event has suggested to many that the Jägermonsters under the Baron’s banner are going to be a positive force for the time being. While the peace in their company is uneasy, it is a peace that people are unwilling to break, especially in the face of how many of the deaths in the Teufel conflict were among the Jäger forces specifically.

The news has already spread across Europa, and we can’t say that the news is anything but amazing!

_Article written by Detlef Vogel_


	4. Follow Not the Spark Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Listen well, dear child of mine._

_Listen well, dear child of mine,_  
_There’s creatures rising from the new Dyne!_  
_Monsterous ducks and devilish frogs,_  
_Man-eating cats and fire-spewing dogs!_

 _The Het’rodyne has opened the water,_  
_To every parent, young son and daughter!_  
_It glows from within and shines in the night,_  
_The Jägerkin prowl but look not to fight!_

 _Listen well, o child at the hearth,_  
_Something cursed flows deep from the earth!_  
_The banks of the river are young and carved rough,_  
_The things that crawl up them are ever so tough!_

 _You can hear the growling and screaming,_  
_Imagine all those sharpened teeth gleaming!_  
_Satan’s touch is lingering here,_  
_And each of us continues to fear!_

 _Listen well, o children around,_  
_Be careful not to make a one sound!_  
_The river draws in those who will look,_  
_So never follow that ghostly heart-hook!_

 _It glows! It shines! The light we all see._  
_It changes, curses, whatever you be!_  
_Follow not the Spark Light._  
_Enter not the Dyne._

 _Follow not the Spark Light._  
_Enter not the Dyne._

> - [An archaic warning lullaby](http://phoenixyfriend.tumblr.com/post/180674158285/a-recording-i-did-for-papers-of-europa) from the towns several miles down the Dyne from Mechanicsburg. The song has changed over the past centuries, to retain the rhyming scheme while remaining intelligible to the children listening, and comparisons to past records suggest that the majority of the messages have remained intact. Theories about the Jägerkin’s actions in the song have varied, but most contemporary scholars agree that they Jägers in question were most likely on scouting trips for Egregious Heterodyne to examine the effects that the river was having. Little is known as to why the river ceased to have such effects, and while many doubt that such effects were ever present at all, archeological records suggest that they were indeed present.

 


End file.
